She Sails Between Two Worlds with Sharon Madsen | Ship's Log #43

“Somewhere between surviving and achieving, you forgot you were born sacred. Your soul has been waiting in the stillness of your heart for you to remember.” 

Episode Summary 

Sharon Madsen has spent 30 years doing work that's hard to put on a business card. She's a regulated health professional, a Reiki Master Teacher, and a self-described psychic medium — and the people who find her are usually the ones who look most put-together from the outside. The house, the marriage, the career, the success. And a quiet, confusing emptiness underneath it all. 

In this conversation she and Jeanne trace where that emptiness comes from — what Sharon calls being out of alignment with your soul — and why so many of us learned to tamp down our own intuition until we couldn't hear it anymore. Sharon shares astonishing stories from her practice, including channeling a late father's private nickname for a client in a language she doesn't speak, and offers a deceptively simple daily practice: standing at the mirror and learning to love the person looking back. Jeanne brings her own thread too, from a childhood premonition of her father's car accident to the idea that you can't love your neighbor until you love yourself. 

Then it's Two Truths & A Lie — three unforgettable headlines: healing an elephant with her bare hands, a whitewater rafting accident that nearly killed her, and a meditation-retreat moment she believes was the gift of divine healing. Jeanne makes her guess. Sharon walks through each one. And the reveal is not the one you'd bet on. Stay to the end. 

Guest Bio 

Sharon Madsen helps successful people who've achieved everything but still feel empty inside. A regulated health professional, psychic medium, and Reiki Master Teacher for 30 years, she guides people from racing minds and emotional exhaustion back to inner peace — and back to the wholeness they've been searching for all along. 

Guest Links 

Website:  https://shineyoursoullight.com 

Private Session:  https://shineyoursoullight.com/privatesession 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/sharonshaymadsen 

Instagram:  https://instagram.com/sharonshaymadsen 

Email:  Sharon@shineyoursoullight.com 

Who do you know who'd make a great guest for the show? Please let us know.
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Transcript

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Cold Open

Sharon Madsen 0:03

I hear this voice that is mine, but it isn't mine. I'm not speaking and it sounds disembodied. And I feel like I'm out in space looking at the earth and light it just keeps cascading all around the earth. And I hear this voice, and it said, It said, My beautiful, beautiful children, my beloved children. I would give anything for you. I would die for you.

Welcome and Intro

Jeanne 0:33

Welcome back to Project Candor, where ordinary people share unexpected stories. I'm your host, Jeanne Andersen, and today's conversation is one I've been really looking forward to. My guest today works at the intersection of science, soul, and healing. She's a regulated health professional, a psychic medium, and a Reiki master teacher with 30 years of experience, and she guides people from racing minds and emotional exhaustion back to inner peace. She helps successful people who've achieved everything and still feel

Sharon Joins the Conversation

Jeanne 1:04

empty inside. Remember the wholesome that they are searching for all along. Please welcome Sharon Madsen. Sharon, hello. So glad you're here.

Sharon Madsen 1:14

Hello, Jeanne. Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here too.

Jeanne 1:17

I know. I'm so glad that you um decided you would come on the podcast. And I know you have so many interesting things because I've talked to you. I think what have what have I known you now for like almost a year? Almost a year. Yeah, almost a year. With a little break in there, yeah. Yeah. So it's really good for them to hear your story. So, Sharon, before we get into your story, I just want to say the way you describe your work is just intriguing

The Emptiness Beneath Success

Jeanne 1:46

because people that are feeling empty, they definitely need something to help them. And I don't think people know what to do when they get there. Do you have any thoughts on that just as we begin?

Sharon Madsen 1:58

Yes. And what I see repeatedly with clients is that the feeling of emptiness is a surprise to them. They judge themselves for feeling empty because they've got the life that they wanted, whether that's, you know, the husband or wife, the house, the cottage, the children, the dog, the cat, cars, the financial success. Externally, everything looks good, but inside they feel empty. And what my work over these decades has shown me, when people are out of alignment with their true essence, you could call it your soul. I tend to call it your soul. That's what most people relate to. When you are out of alignment with that, all the success in the world feels empty because you're not living from your authentic self. You're living more in an external world. So what I help people do is to connect in with the essence of who they are. And I just watch people be content, be satisfied. Joy starts to drop in. They start handling the challenges of life, because let's face it, we all have them. They start navigating them with more ease because I give them some tools and foundation, and then they can always rely on themselves rather than responding to what's going on externally. They have an inner resource, and some people could call it faith, you could call it spirituality, but it's really rooted in the self.

Jeanne 3:25

Nice. And I know that there's a lot of people out there saying that they can do the same thing, but I think you have a special set of tools. So we're gonna keep going. And let's go back to the beginning before you became the person who guides others through that feeling. Growing up, was there a moment, something you witnessed, felt, or couldn't explain that first made you aware that you experienced the world differently than the people

A Childhood That Sensed More

Jeanne 3:49

around you?

Sharon Madsen 3:50

Well, yes, at the risk of sounding out there, I sensed presence that wasn't physical, like I could sense beings or energy or whatever you want to call it. I felt like I sensed my grandparents, they weren't there. I was aware of things that others weren't. So I always had a heightened sense of awareness. And sort of one of the other things that came to mind recently is I always felt this sense of love and joy very deeply in my heart. And then one thing my mother just brought to mind, I still have a mother around that's almost 96. She said from a very young age, yeah, I'm very blessed. She said I had healing hands because I would instinctively go and I would rub her her neck or her shoulders, and I was always very affectionate. And she always said, Sharon, you have healing hands, and because her headaches would go away. So I think that's kind of different, maybe for a six-year-old to be doing.

Jeanne 4:48

Yeah, that's a good point. So what did you do with that awareness as a young person? Were you scared about it? And because you said at the risk of being out there. So I know it's not something that you that everybody feels comfortable with being in a more spiritual world, is what I would call it. So what did you do? You were just a young child.

Sharon Madsen 5:11

I was fascinated by it. I was fascinated by the fact that I could sense my grandmother and almost feel guidance from her. She was still alive at the time in Ireland. And my grandfather, who wasn't alive, I could sense his presence as well. That's why I'm saying at the risk of sound like I don't need anyone to believe this. It was my experience, and probably in my family, it was maybe not that supported, you know, because they're like, oh, children have imaginations. But to me it was real, and to me I understood it, and that sense of connectedness has never gone away. And I think the other piece that I'll share, and I think a lot of children feel this and adults. I was very empathic. I could sense, like if there was discord between my parents or something going on, even if they said, Oh, everything's fine, honey, everything's fine. I knew when it wasn't, and I always picked up the energy in a room. And that has just heightened as I've matured, and I now know that I'm a very strong empath. So I'm able to sense people's emotions, people's physical pain, their emotional pain. I can read the room, and this is actually quite common. People are either highly sensitive or empathic. A fair number the population is.

Jeanne 6:31

So that's very interesting. And I think you and I talked once when I was a child and I had a dream that my father had been in a car accident, unbeknownst to me. He was preaching somewhere in a remote area and had had a car accident and hit a deer, and I woke up crying, wondering uh if he was okay. And my mom came in and said, Oh, it's okay, it's okay. And she I would tell her the dream, and he still wasn't home yet. So it scared me a little bit that I knew he had had an accident. You know, it wasn't a bit, we didn't talk about it a lot, but I was just like, I was just fixated, like, why did I know that?

Sharon Madsen 7:11

Well, it is scary, and it was a scary message. You know, I I would have probably been scared if I picked that up too, but mostly I'd pick up if there was tension between my parents. I did actually pick up and I was in my 20s, I picked up when my grandmother had passed. I knew it just before the phone rang. I knew I could feel it, and I don't know how to explain it. It's just an awareness. And I don't go out seeking it, it happens. I could share some really bizarre stories that have happened while I work with people, but anyway.

Jeanne 7:44

Maybe we'll get to those. Maybe. So you spent 30 years in this work, so take me back a moment. Or maybe the season when you cross from this is something I'm curious about, that this is what I'm here to do. And then what happened and what did it cost you to follow what you are doing now?

Sharon Madsen 8:02

Did you say what did it cost me?

Jeanne 8:04

Right.

30 Years of Healing Work

Jeanne 8:05

Not cost monetarily, but if you didn't give up anything, or if you gave up friendships, I mean

Sharon Madsen 8:11

Yeah, and that that's where I thought you were going with that. And I appreciate that question because it actually did cost me things. It was in my 20s, and my, you know, my friend group, you know, between late teens and 20s was very solid. And I took psychotherapy training and I also took a counseling program. I was in two things at the same time to become a psychotherapist and just help people. And I was always very interested in anything metaphysical, spiritual, like these deep religious experiences, always intrigued me. And the more I pursued that work, the more training I did to learn how to talk to people, to help them come out of themselves and to hold space for them while they were sharing painful moments. My intuition became stronger and stronger. And some of my close friends, especially a few women, noticed they've said they felt like I could see through them and they felt vulnerable around me and they distanced themselves from me. So it kind of pruned some of my friendships out the more I stepped into this. And I'm even doing it on a bigger scale now. And I feel a calling in my heart. I don't know how to describe it any other way, but I feel this incredible love for people and for supporting them and helping them really connect with who they truly are because I've watched transformations happen, like families have changed, so many things have changed and my life's changed, but it's also made me probably to a few people a little woo-woo. Um, because sometimes things happen when I'm working with somebody. I mean, I've been a licensed massage therapist for years. I've I've just retired, well, almost retired from that. But sometimes I get messages for people. I had this woman who'd come to me, and all I knew was her name, and I knew she was Ukrainian. I didn't know anything more than that. And she'd actually been over in the Ukraine. She volunteered to be in the army there. So pretty brave woman moved back there. And I didn't know that her father had died. I didn't know anything about her. I just knew her name. She wanted to do some Reiki energy healing. And I had this vision in my head, like as if you can imagine something, and I saw it looked like a man in a white tunic, very white hair and clear blue eyes and long hair, and he was doing this, and I kept hearing this term, and it was something like jebchin or jebchak, something like that, repeatedly. And then finally I said, Okay, this is what's coming up. And the woman burst into tears, and little did I know that it was her father's Ukrainian nickname for her that meant little frog, and he was the only one that used it, and she had such an emotional response, and she said, I feel better now because I know he's okay. He's he spoke to me. You could never know that. And I only speak English. So that was shocking and amazing for both of us. And I've had more of those. I had someone, father, it was also father, give a nickname and speak some words that I didn't realize were actually words that he used to say to his daughter, and he had a French nickname. And I said, It sounds something like this, but I don't speak French. And she burst into tears, and then she had this healing. So I'm a little hesitant almost to share some of those things, and that's why you could call me a psychic medium, but I feel like I'm really in tune with what's happening with somebody, and whatever guidance and what they need to hear comes through for their healing and their shift.

Jeanne 12:07

Yeah, well, that makes sense because basically the people who come to you are often carrying something and they never say that out loud. But then you are there to help be a facilitator, I think. What has that really taught you about what people are feeling and hearing and and what's keeping them closed out?

Sharon Madsen 12:29

What it's taught me, I'd say what it speaks to strongly is that because of how we've been, I call it the domestication of the human. We've been raised in an environment, family, school, society, to ignore our intuition. And to me, that is a God-given gift. It's a sense, and children have it. We're very open as children, and it gets trained out of us through all of those things I mentioned. And, you know, kids have imaginary friends, or

Why We Silence Our Intuition

Sharon Madsen 13:01

I had that sense of my my grandmother, my grandfather, and they're like, Oh, Sharon, you know, you got that child's imagination. To me, it was real. I believe that we all have this gift. I believe it's a God-given gift, it's one of our senses, and it gets squished down through school, through parents, through society, and unintentionally. And I think when we can listen to our own inner guidance, I think life flows a lot better. And I feel that's where we get disconnected from our soul. We get disconnected from a true important essence. It's like a birthright of ours, if that makes sense.

Jeanne 13:40

Yeah, it does make sense. And personally, for my story about dreaming of the wreck, I mean, I wanted to shut it down and suppress it. I didn't want to know these things. So it did get trained out of me. So that's a good observation about what people are holding in and why they cover that up and need somebody to come to talk to them like you.

Sharon Madsen 14:00

Well, and when you're a little kid and you're having a dream about your father having a serious crash, that is scary. And that is a like that would make any of us shut it out. But if we all look back and think, I knew I should have listened to that little feeling I had in my gut or in my heart. We've all had so many of those. We know who's gonna call before the phone rings. We think of that person, the phone rings, or something gives us a little nudge one way, and then we go, I'm just making that up. And then we go the other way, and then we realize, ah, I should have listened to that little niggle. To me, that's the nudge from the soul. That's the intuition wanting to come through and guide us, and we negate that.

Jeanne 14:45

Right.

Sharon Madsen 14:45

So, you know, there's more than just opening up to that. I mean, I do teach a framework and a foundation that can help people live more peacefully and happily, but then it's also bringing in honoring the intuition and connecting them with themselves on a much deeper level than they are when they are like just working to achieve and to succeed rather than to sometimes just be quiet and let some of that inner wisdom come through.

Jeanne 15:15

Yeah, that would this is what I was gonna say along with those lines. Have you ever been just sitting around and thinking of someone and then they call you on the phone? Or you get a card from them in the mail, you know, or you reach out to them and they say, Wow, it's just thinking about calling you.

Sharon Madsen 15:35

All the time. And and that was one of the examples I gave. I think most people can relate to that. That's showing us that our internal wisdom, our inner guidance is there, and it's there in a much bigger capacity on bigger events, and it guides us, but I think we've learned to tamp it down and ignore it. So that's one of the things I I love supporting people to get back in touch with because it was given to us for a reason. It's a sense.

Jeanne 16:03

Right. Well, there's a lot of people that talk about angels whispering in your ear and watching over you at night, and they sing songs about that, and I think it's a spiritual song, Angels Watching Over Me, my Lord. I don't remember all the words. I can hear it in my mind, but I can't sing it. Yeah, you know, there are those things that they say, and people don't take them to heart, I don't think. I think they just listen to it and say, it's nice to know an angel's watching over me. But if someone was whispering in your ear, you know, oh no, that didn't happen.

Sharon Madsen 16:36

I feel that we are watched over personally, and I'm not attached to anyone believing anything that I say. Um, some people will resonate with it and some won't, but anyone who reads the Bible will understand there's some inexplicable things that happen. And I think there are guides and beings that are are loving. Like I feel like we are watched over by God and God's helpers. Call them angels, call them ascended masters, call them what you will. But I feel personally connected to that when I work with people. I feel guided by that when I work with people. And to me, it feels sacred and a gift and a blessing.

What Coming Home Feels Like

Jeanne 17:20

That's very nice to hear. So you describe guiding people back to wholeness, back to something essential. So, what does that actually look like when it happens? And is there a moment, a shift, something you see in someone that tells you the tide has turned?

Sharon Madsen 17:34

Well, some of the first steps that I notice, Jeanne, is that people start to shed stress. So one of the first things they say is they feel lighter, they feel like a burden's been lifted. A doctor that's a client of mine, she talks about it feels like a waterfall moving off her body, and she can't believe how much lighter and unburdened she feels. And then people start to feel happier. I mean, sometimes people say they are they feel happier than they felt in many years. And then the other piece that happens is relationships, family, friendships, co-workers, it becomes easier. So they can navigate the challenging issues of life better because they've got this inner resource that they're tapped into. So stress comes down, right? Happiness goes up, peace becomes like an embodied state. They feel more peaceful, they feel more joyful, and they feel equipped to handle what life presents to them. Because we all know like life is meant to be up and down, it's the nature of living. But if you feel like you have a strong foundation within yourself that you're equipped to handle whatever life presents, like that's crossing the river of change in my mind.

Jeanne 18:49

No, that's profound because I agree. Yeah, I had a call with someone yesterday, and they had such an interesting quote. And it basically was, you need to love yourself. I mean, she talked a lot about loving yourself. And her father had always said,

Learning to Love Yourself

Jeanne 19:08

you know, you have to love yourself and be peaceful inside of yourself. When you read the Bible, it says, love your neighbor as yourself. So how can you love your neighbor as yourself unless you love yourself? Because that is what it's about. You know, you can't love someone if you don't understand that and you don't have that peace inside of you. So I think what you're trying to get people to achieve peace within them is part of that loving yourself. Would you agree or disagree?

Sharon Madsen 19:35

A hundred percent. It's one of the there's a practice that I have people do in their bathroom mirror with the lights low or with a candle to look into their left eye. And people struggle with this, to like really look in the left eye in the mirror and tell themselves they love themselves. And people resist that unbelievably. It's like they don't want to love themselves or they're embarrassed or they feel vulnerable, and it's just them with them, and it's fascinating to me. And I think one of the main things that we need to do is love ourselves. I think that is a foundational piece, a hundred percent.

Jeanne 20:16

Well, that's funny when we go that direction, then you're talking about looking in your left eye. So you and I both know we've heard the exercise that if you're thinking of something that's in the past, you look to the right. And if you're thinking of something like that.

Sharon Madsen 20:31

Oh, it's actually the other way.

Jeanne 20:34

Oh, okay.

Sharon Madsen 20:35

It's the other way when we're speaking in the past. If we're presenting a talk, we look at like 45 degrees to the left. If we're looking for the future, we look 45 to the right. But there is something neurological. See, I've messed up on that one. No, but that's okay, but it's a good point. The thing is to if you look constantly in, you can only look at one eye at a time. And there is a neuroscientist, and I don't remember her name that I follow, and she helps a lot of corporate executives make connections with other people at a key level, and you trust someone when they look deeply into your left eye, like you instill trust in them if you look into their left eye. So it's something to do with the mother-child bonding and holding the baby and looking, looking down that they can see more into the left eye. I can't give you all the science behind it, but

Jeanne 21:33

But that's very interesting. Because if you're telling people to look at themselves in the mirror in their left eye, you're looking then at the past that you're kind of like you're having a hard time loving yourself for who you are.

Sharon Madsen 21:45

Yeah, but you know, telling a story about the past so people realize you're, you know, you're looking to the left and thinking of the past versus looking to the right and thinking of the future. I don't know if it translates exactly neurologically. I'm not sure. But but it does make a good point because I think the world would be such a better place if children were taught in school to love themselves and respect themselves and to have confidence and self-esteem. I think the world would be so, so different if that was yeah, I think that's missing. And one of the things I see with the people I work with, I mean, I have a program, the Inner Sanctuary Path. And to me, it's because it comes from inside. And if we love and respect ourselves and we feel confident, we're not relying on external forces to make us okay. We're okay within ourselves. And that that's huge. I think there'd be less crime.

Jeanne 22:46

I think you would like this episode when it comes out. I just recorded it, but just write, make a note. You need to listen to uh Stephanie Silvestre. She works with AI and it she was fantastic. And she talked a lot about loving yourself and people needing to love themselves. And I thought, wow, this goes right along with Sharon.

Sharon Madsen 23:05

It's good to hear that with someone in AI. Like it's good to hear that.

Jeanne 23:08

Oh, yeah. She yeah, you also need to listen to it if you're nervous about AI, because she made the very, very good case and argument for why it's not as scary as everybody's making out, you know, making it out to be. So it was a fantastic conversation. But I will look forward to that. Yeah, it'll be great. I have one more question before we transition, though. I want to ask if someone is listening right now and they're successful, they look fine from the outside, but something inside them feels it's you know it's been quiet for too long, what would you want them to hear from you today?

Sharon Madsen 23:42

I would want them to say something in you is recognizing that something needs to shift. And that recognition is important because to me, the soul is nudging you towards something more. So what's going on is your success isn't filling the emptiness. You know, you've done the therapy, you've done the books. The issues aren't at the mind level, and the mind is running the show for over 95% of the world, probably more. And we let the mind and the thoughts take over, and it's like drop into the heart, drop into the body, into your wisdom, and you will see life change.

Jeanne 24:26

Wow, that's good advice. And I know that you are gonna want to have a lot of people contacting you, and I'm gonna give your information out about how to do that at the end of the call.

Sharon Madsen 24:37

So it'd be my pleasure.

Jeanne 24:38

I can keep going talking to you because you've been fantastic and giving us a lot of good things to think about. But now it's time for Two Truths and a Lie. And I know you've got some good ones, so

Sharon Madsen 24:48

I'm excited. So the way we play this game is um the guest has given me three headlines prior to this call. And two of those are absolutely the truth. One of them is a lie or an exaggerated truth or even just a twisted truth. But we're gonna go and read those headlines and then I'm gonna guess, and then we'll let Sharon walk us through each of those headlines, and then at the end, she'll reveal the lie and see if I got it right. And those playing along, see if you got it right. So let's do this. I'm gonna share my screen real quick. This episode is sponsored by Rebel 180, the home of brave pivots and fresh starts. Rebel 180 is all about helping you rediscover what's possible when you stop settling and start listening to that little tug inside that says, life can be different. Whether you're navigating a career shift, dreaming about a new direction, or standing at the crossroads wondering if it's time for your own 180-degree turn, Rebel 180 is a reminder. You don't need permission to change your story. And now, as we open the door to our second sponsor, we're stepping into the world of tech. Simple socket print, the lightweight blazing fast label print solution designed for those who need reliability without the blue. With version 1.5, you get instant printing in milliseconds, fully maintained print sequence, and automatic base 64 decoding all without needing print driver installs. If you're running SQL Server 2016 or newer, SimpleSocket Print 1.5 drops right in and gets to work. Keep your workflow simple, keep your label printing fast with Simple Socket Print. Thank you to our sponsors. Number one headline.

Two Truths and a Lie

Jeanne 26:43

That sounds interesting. Uh, and the whitewater moment that nearly took Sharon's life is number two and changed everything. Then number three was the moment Sharon believed Christ gave her the gift of divine healing. So I'm gonna guess number one, because I have never in my life heard of anybody healing an elephant with their bare hands. And why would you be healing an elephant? Anyway, I'm gonna guess that's a lie. But you tell us and don't reveal the lie till the end.

Sharon Madsen 27:16

Gotcha. Shall I give you a short synopsis of the story?

Jeanne 27:20

Yes, ma'am. We'd love to hear this elephant story for sure.

Sharon Madsen 27:23

Okay, so it's 1995, and I've already mentioned that I'm a massage therapist. I'm 1995 and I'm learning Thai massage at a healing center in um uh Chiang Mai. And right beside the center is an elephant sanctuary, and some of us from the healing center volunteered at the elephant sanctuary, and I was one of them because I thought like these majestic creatures were incredible, and these were elephants that were retired from the logging industry. So, yeah, so I was volunteering somewhat regularly when I could, and one day I go over and the mahouts, which are the elephant staff that elephant keepers or whatever they're called mahuts, mahoots, I think is the right pronunciation, they were really stressed out because one of the elephants, a 60-year-old uh matriarch called Mali, hadn't eaten for three days in this one mahoot, he was really stressed because he'd been caring for her for many years and she wouldn't eat, and they brought in the vet and she still wasn't eating. And I went and I I said, like, what's going on? And so I just walked over to this massive creature and I put my hands on her trunk and I felt this energy louve through my hands and into her. It went right through my body. I experienced it as light, as energy. I everything was tingling, and I just held it there and she stayed still. And after I don't know, 15 or 20 minutes, she took a deep breath, and it felt like something left. And I stepped back because like their feet are huge. So I stepped back and

Jeanne 29:09

That's what I thought of immediately on this story. That's the funniest thing about big feet and being careful.

Sharon Madsen 29:15

The feet, these big round feet. And so I stepped back and she did a big sigh and she blinked her eyes, and then slowly and deliberately she moved towards her food and she started eating.

Jeanne 29:28

Wow.

Sharon Madsen 29:29

And so they were all screaming. Like I think I was crying at that point. And um, and the next day I like I went back to check and she was still eating and she was fine. And her um staff, her Mahoot, So-Chen was his name, he was like jumping up and down and saying things in Thai. Of course, I didn't understand anything, and I was like going, you know, like this. And so they called over the interpreter, and they they were saying, Sharon has magic hands, Sharon has magic hands. Like she said, Molly. And so after I left, I ended up studying Reiki after that when I came back to Toronto, but um, I kept in touch with the with the staff, and he gave me updates about Molly, and she'd lived like another four or five years.

Jeanne 30:17

Oh, that's wonderful. That is just wonderful. That must have been just amazing to do. Well, you never can explain the energy either, right? You just it was just something you felt led to do, and then it I felt led to do.

Sharon Madsen 30:33

I felt led to do, and um yeah, and then I, you know, that was a long time ago, and I ended up studying different levels of Reiki and became a Reiki master teacher, and I teach it as well. And so that work of Reiki opened you up to be able to bring through universal life force energy, and that's ancient, that's thousands of years old, Reiki.

Jeanne 30:56

Wow, that is unbelievable. Wow. Well, that was the one I thought isn't true, but we'll see. How about number two? The whitewater moment that nearly took your life.

Sharon Madsen 31:08

Ah, so I was about 20 and a group of us went whitewater rafting in the Ottawa River, and so that's kind of like similar maybe to the Colorado River. It's big, big rapids. It's known for whitewater rafting, and it was exciting. They made us wear helmets, and I did not want to wear helmets because it was so hot, and they said you can't go without a helmet and a life jacket. And I said, Okay, we're in. The rapids were very high. They almost were gonna cancel it, and then they said, you know, I think we'll be okay. But they said the water level's high, so you you're gonna it's gonna be rough. And you know, I was a kid, I was I was 20, 19, 20, and I was excited. So we went, we were having a great time, and it was rigorous. And then we hit this place called the Coliseum, and the guide had stopped us before we went into the Coliseum and he said, This is the most dangerous rapid. And he said, You can get caught in a whirlpool, and he said you can see like 15 or 20 foot walls of water above the raft. And prior to us leaving for that adventure that day, one of the women that was in my group said her uncle died years ago in the Coliseum, he was trapped and his body didn't surface for three years. So that's a little that's in the back of my mind. Oh, that's like like, oh, let's go do this thing. So yeah.

Jeanne 32:38

Why would she tell you that?

Sharon Madsen 32:40

I don't know, but I wasn't happy that she did. And so that's sort of in the back of my mind. You don't just drop that. So we're entering we don't have seat belts on because it's a safety thing. Only the guide at the back has a strap to hold him in the boat. And he just said, paddle as hard as you can, and we paddled, we paddled, and we looked up, and I just remember I thought it was 20 feet of water, like it was just a wall of water, and we all kind of screamed, and the boat snapped backwards, so the back part of us flipped into the water, and I was underwater with my friend that was beside me. We were trapped under the boat, and the guide had said, if you get thrown, a lot of people get thrown here, stay away from the left side, that'll cut your legs all up, you'll get shredded in the sharp rocks. So I'm under the water, Jeanne, and I'm swimming up and I'm pulled down by the whirlpool, and I'm swimming up, swimming up, and the raft is hitting me on the head because I'm stuck in the same whirlpool that the boat is stuck in. So probably that happened like five or seven times. And then I'm up out of the water, and I see my friend. We're very much on the rocky side, and I said, We gotta, we gotta go. And I said, Come on, let's like, let's try and go. And so, sorry, maybe this is a bit too long, but um No, I'm getting very enthralled here. I'm like, uh are you out of the water now? I mean, you said nothing was anything. No, we are traveling down rapids that are like water is going over our heads, we're coughing, like both of us almost drowned. It was really scary. The boat was trapped, and we popped up and we're moving down towards the rafts that had already gone and made it through safely. Okay. And I hear someone call out and said, There's people, and they paddled towards us. And it turned out my friend Martin reached out his hand and pulled me onto the boat, and I didn't even want to like I'm clung on to the round part of the boat. I'm going into probably shock or something. And we still had one more rapid to do. But if you've ever almost drowned and being trapped under that water, and they say your life flashes before your eyes, it felt like images just went across, across and across, like it was true. And I was probably shrieking underwater because I thought I was definitely gonna die because I couldn't get air, like I kept being smashed down. And then after this, when I'm on the other boat, we still had to do another rapid, and then we got back to shore eventually, and apparently I fainted. I I barely remember that I'd gone into shock, but it sat with me what had I really done that was meaningful in my life, you know. I was like a young, like I was a kid, and I felt like that changed things for me. It changed the course of my life because you know, I was doing what kids at that age do. I wasn't super focused on creating a life of meaning, and I've always felt called to that. So I don't know if I'm really expressing it well here, but No, I think you are.

Jeanne 35:50

I mean, I understand what you're saying.

Sharon Madsen 35:51

You're like Yeah, I kind of I kind of went like, what am I really wanting to do with my life? And what have I done that's significant? And if I died today, what would I would I feel proud? Like it was that. I mean, I know I was young, but it it turned my life around. Like I ended up going back to school and I I took psychotherapy training and counseling, and I really, I really changed the trajectory of my life.

Jeanne 36:18

Yeah, I can understand that. And you're making me think of you said exactly the way I felt one time in college when we were out partying and drinking, when you could drink when you were 18 here. And um I had never had anything to drink in my life. And then my I think it was my end of my freshman year, I finally went a little bit nuts, and I got in the car with somebody drinking, and the same thing happened. I could tell that they were swerving and driving, and I was like, oh God, get me where I need to be. And then I thought, if I die today, I will never be able to explain to my father what I was doing. And so it really changed me because I didn't want to get in that situation again. So I was always very careful to not put myself in positions like that. So I'm sure that was something that you kind of went through. You said that exactly. If I die today, what am I accountable for? What have I done?

Sharon Madsen 37:15

What have I done? And would I feel proud about what I've done? Not that I'd done anything bad. I mean, I was just an average kid, but I always felt like I I wanted to do more. And I think it's just like one of those life-changing moments where nothing is ever the same after that. Yeah, there was a term that came to mind, but I just I lost the thought there. But it was a pivotal thing.

Jeanne 37:40

And it was a revelation.

Sharon Madsen 37:43

Like it was a life-changing, transformational moment. And there is a thing that children have and young people have, and it's called magical thinking. You always think nothing's gonna happen, you know, you're gonna get in that friend's car, and it won't be you, it'll be somebody something else will happen. And and that magical thinking, when you come close to death and you think you're gonna die, you realize like that is not true. It things can happen, and it's a real reality check. And I think it was a good reality check for me because I was partying a bit at that stage, you know. I was experimenting a bit. I wasn't a bad kid, but I mean, I was, you know, I wasn't taking life very seriously.

Jeanne 38:23

Yeah, me either. I was a good kid. I I was just new in college and you know, had some freedoms and was happy to have some freedom. And then but I I can tell you, I never got in another car with somebody that had been drinking. And to this day, I do not. I will not ride in with anyone that's been drinking. So I guess I'm a prude because I'll go out with people and they'll drink a couple drinks and then they want to drive home. And I'm like, hmm, Uber for me.

Sharon Madsen 38:50

It's smart, it's totally smart. And that is like to me, what happens in life, to me, that was like a soul lesson. Like, wake up and do what you're meant to do. That's what I interpreted that and the elephants. That elephant story is so great, uh sometimes small things change us, and sometimes like life-threatening things change us, right? And I think everything that happens for us, we can find the good in it if we only look, right? There's always a silver lining.

Jeanne 39:21

Right. That's a great story. I really appreciate you sharing that.

Sharon Madsen 39:25

Oh, my pleasure.

Jeanne 39:26

Hopefully that's not a lie. So, anyway, let's go to three. Number three, that's your headline.

Sharon Madsen 39:31

Okay. So this was in 2018 in Toronto, and I'm in a meditation retreat with 1,500 people. And I've been spiritual, as you know, for a long time. And and I wanted this is the first one I'd ever been to. And it was a week-long retreat, and I don't know, it was maybe day two or day three. We are in this, I don't know, two and a half hour meditation, tight group of people, 1,500 people in this massive ballroom, and I am having a wild experience. It's like my body is no longer, I'm not even in my body. I am just having this very expanded feeling. And then he tells us, lie on your yoga mats. And so I get off my seat and I lie on my yoga mat, which I hardly remember, and I could see this blue light coming like swirling towards me, and it went all around my throat and my chest, like this spirally thing. And I think my body was shaking. I don't know, because I'm in sort of a deep meditation state, but it was as real as I see your beautiful face on the screen.

Jeanne 40:40

Oh. Thank you.

Sharon Madsen 40:42

It was as real as this, and it's swirling around, swirling around, and then it moves out of me. And I found out later it moved into the guy beside me, and it he said it, it's like it pushed him, and he moved on his mat because he said, What was that? But that's getting away from the story. So that happened, and I'm but it's it's fantastic, like it's unbelievable. And so then I see these, it looked like these big pillars of light, and I could feel that it was beings, and I felt this love come from them. And I don't know, I could tell you a bit more about them, or I could get to the real meat and potatoes of the story. So I felt like they spoke to me a little bit. I'll just say that. And I was very aware of feeling loved and supported, and they told me I had just embodied more of my soul because I felt something move down into my head. And then I sort of felt like the Michelin man, like big. I remember sort of in the background thinking, oh, like I'm this big thing right now. I don't know, it was weird, but I wasn't scared. I felt such love.

Jeanne 41:53

Wow.

Sharon Madsen 41:54

And up and to the right, above me, and slightly to the right, I see Jesus. I see the face of Christ as clear as I see your face. And he's talking to me in his, I'm hearing what he's saying in my mind. And he said, I have guided you. He said, I have guided and supported you. And he said, Sometimes you've been stubborn, and he chuckled. Like, and I laughed with him because I I was like, Oh my goodness. It was like meeting an old friend, and I had a slideshow of images come through my mind, nice ones that felt like experiences I had in other times. Not like in the boat trapped and life flashing. This was like moments of beautiful things. It was like a slideshow that just went and he was there, and I just felt such loving presence that I thought if I never experience anything like this, I'll be satisfied in my life. I've never expected anything like this. And his hands were in this position, and he went like this. And Jeanne, the amount, I'm probably gonna cry, the amount of love and light that came through those hands and entered my body was the most profound experience of my life. And it felt like I can feel it now as I talk about it, and every cell in my body was sparkling and shimmering. I felt like I was radiant, and I felt like I was being given this incredible gift. Like I felt, I don't even have the words honestly to share. I just felt so humbled and so grateful and appreciative. And there were people in this room that were brought in to try to heal. I'm sorry, I have to wipe my nose. I'm crying a little bit. They were brought in in hospital beds and wheelchairs hoping to get healing from this meditation retreat. And this energy was flowing in my body so much, and I I thought, I'm so Healthy, can this energy be shared with anybody? And the more I thought that, then I could feel it come out of my heart. And the more I thought, I was like, can this be shared with anybody that wants it? And the more I thought of other people, the more it came out of my heart, like this fountain of white light, I guess I can describe it. And I started saying, Can it be in the city? Could it be in the country? Could it be in North America? And then it was the world, like it just kept going because I wanted others to have this feeling and this healing. And leaders in the retreat were aware of the ones that had sort of that gift of sight, I guess we'll call it that, or had uh clairvoyance, they could see like light pouring out of my heart. And little did I know, the only thing touching my yoga mat were my two heels, my tailbone, and the very back of my head, and my heart was like way up to like arched up, and they could sense this light or feel the energy. And while that was happening, I again it's indescribable. I hear this voice that is mine, but it isn't mine. I'm not speaking, and it sounds disembodied, and I feel like I'm out in space looking at the earth, and light it just keeps cascading all around the earth. And I hear this voice, and it said, it said, My beautiful, beautiful children, my beloved children, I would give anything for you. I would die for you. And I don't know if that last thought was my personal thought, but that voice, my beautiful, beautiful children, I would give anything. And I think it might have been my thought, like I would die to give you wellness, because I saw these people suffering, and I felt so complete and whole. Like I felt literally like I was connecting with God. I don't know. I don't mean to sound inappropriate, or to me, this is the most humble thing.

Jeanne 46:15

Well, you know, it's it's really hard to even know how to comment on that. It's a very emotional and very spiritual and special thing that's happened to you. It's hard to comment and wrap up on that.

Sharon Madsen 46:28

It was the most profound experience of my life, and it forever changed me.

Jeanne 46:34

Wow. Well, there's lots of people that have been given gifts. People get called to the ministry, people get called to do missionary work. I know Mother Teresa, she was always helping with um the sick and the orphans and children that you know that needed care. And so there's it's not out of the realm that you could get a gift, you know, that can help people. So I'm glad you shared it with us. I think that's wonderful. I appreciate it.

Sharon Madsen 47:03

Thank you. It might be hard for some people to accept. Can I say one quick thing about Mother Teresa since you brought her up?

Jeanne 47:10

Yes.

Sharon Madsen 47:11

A client of mine who is a photographer was brought to photograph Mother Teresa back when she was still alive and doing her work. And as he approached, he said from a hundred or a hundred and fifty feet away, and this was not a spiritual man, Jeannie, and not religious or spiritual, and he said you could feel her from that distance. He said you could feel the goodness, the love, the compassion, like it radiated from her. So I just wanted to share that.

Jeanne 47:44

Oh, that's very nice.

Sharon Madsen 47:45

Yeah, it's beautiful. It's it was powerful to hear that from this sort of real businessman.

Jeanne 47:50

Anyway, did it ever change him in any way? You think?

Sharon Madsen 47:53

I think it did because he photographed Nelson Mandela as well. And he said he felt something similar from Nelson Nelson Mandela, like a very palpable, indescribable energy that yeah, I think it made him go a little deeper in his life a little bit, but uh yeah.

Jeanne 48:14

That's great. Well, now I don't know which one's the lie. Because I uh like every one of them I love, so I don't know which one's a lie.

Sharon Madsen 48:23

Do I tell you or do you guess?

Jeanne 48:25

I already guessed. I already guessed number one I thought was a lie. So

Sharon Madsen 48:28

Do you still think number one?

Jeanne 48:30

Yeah,

Sharon Madsen 48:31

You are correct, madam. You are correct.

Jeanne 48:36

So was it a twisted truth? I mean, w you were in Thailand and though, right?

Sharon Madsen 48:40

So nope, I made up the whole story.

Jeanne 48:43

Everything? You weren't in Thailand,

Sharon Madsen 48:45

The whole story, and

Jeanne 48:47

That was such a dog, unbelievable story. Whoa, you're good.

Sharon Madsen 48:52

Honestly, I wish that story was true because I feel a connection when I talk about or think about that story. I feel a connection. But I've done all kinds of healing on horses and donkeys and animals, all kinds, even like animals in nature. So that's not unusual for me.

Jeanne 49:10

Well, I thought you had been there, but I guess if you if you made the whole thing up, then uh but I I didn't think you would have gone into an elephant and to heal them. But who knows? And I was thinking fixating on the foot thing, watch out. Because one little move and you're corrupt.

Sharon Madsen 49:27

Yeah, exactly.

Jeanne 49:29

Not that they mean to do that though, because I heard elephants can be very nice to humans.

Sharon Madsen 49:35

In a heartbeat, that is one of the things on my bucket list. In a heartbeat, I would go and be with elephants. Absolutely. I've done healing with dolphins, and the dolphin wouldn't leave me, and there was a whole crowd to visit the dolphin, and the dolphin just kept coming to me because

Jeanne 49:52

Is that a lie or is that true?

Sharon Madsen 49:53

That is a true story.

Jeanne 49:55

Okay.

Sharon Madsen 49:55

In Cuba, in the wild, we were swimming with dolphins, and we were supposed to have an experience with this one dolphin that was somewhat tame, and he wouldn't leave me to go to other people because I felt for him. I just felt he needed healing, and he did. And yeah, anyway, that's a whole that's another story. So sorry.

Jeanne 50:17

That's okay. Well, it's coming to a close here. So I know people are gonna want to get in touch with you. So I'm gonna scroll down to this next page here. Um, Sharon, you gave us a very nice quote of somewhere between surviving and achieving, you forgot you were born sacred. Your soul has been waiting in the stillness of your heart for you to remember. That's a beautiful quote by you. Is that kind of also your call to action for people to get in touch with you?

Sharon Madsen 50:41

It kind of is. You know, I would just say if anyone resonates with anything that I've said, I offer a free clarity call to people. I'm here to help people. I'm here to help people that feel called to call to work with me or feel a resonance. Not everybody works with everybody, but some people are gonna feel something niggle at them. And I want to say, this is coming from your soul, this is coming from your intuition. And whether you work with me or I help guide you on some other path, I say listen to your soul, because your soul is here for a reason. It's a divine gift for you. And I am gonna offer, I don't know if it's on here, I am gonna offer, if anyone books privately or in my women's healing circle that I do, if they book with me from this podcast, I'm gonna gift them a special sanctuary tool that I've created. And uh it's very valuable because it'll serve you for life. It's called the it's an inner sanctuary tool. Yeah, so I'd be delighted to offer that free. And um, you know, I just thank you for the opportunity of sharing in your beautiful podcast and your light and your energy and uh and your viewers.

Jeanne 51:58

Thank you very much. Um, we were just really blessed to have you on the call. And um, I really want to say to everybody, please reach out to Sharon. I know her personally, and I think she's really gonna be easy to work with, and you're gonna enjoy being you know part of whatever she's got going on. So, for those of you that joined today, I hope that you will join us next week for another great guest for the show. And then also connect with Sharon because I know she can help out. And also for those listening, um, I wish you smooth sailing until I see you again from your Admiral of the Unexpected. Bye for now. Bye. Thank you so much. Be well. Thanks for joining me on Project Candor, where the doors are open, the stories are unexpected, and the treasure is always real. If today's episode made you laugh or think, follow the show and share it with your crew. Otherwise, I might just make you swab the deck. I'm Jeanne Andersen, your Admiral of the Unexpected. See you on the next voyage.